NEARLY 9 MILLION HAVE LOST MEDICAID COVERAGE
As of October 16, over 8.8 million Medicaid enrollees have lost coverage, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. 35% of those who completed the renewal process were disenrolled and 15.9 million enrollees were able to qualify for renewed coverage. The large range of disenrollment rates in each state varies, with the highest of 66% being in Texas and the lowest of 11% in Illinois. Out of all states with available data, 72% of all those disenrolled were due to procedural reasons.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) continues to run their fall Beyond the Basics webinar series which provides training for assisters to prepare. The next webinar will be on October 24 and will bring together all of the policies covered in the Beyond the Basics webinar series by walking through a series of common, but complex, enrollment scenarios. The final webinar will be in Spanish on October 26 and will provide tools to facilitate access to health coverage for Hispanic consumers, such as: health insurance basics, comparing health plans, and how to resolve the most common eligibility errors that affect immigrants and immigrant families. mixed immigration status (Spanish translation: Este seminario web en español proveerá herramientas para facilitar el acceso a cobertura de salud para consumidores hispanos, como son: conceptos básicos sobre seguro médico, comparación de planes de salud, y cómo resolver los errores más comunes de elegibilidad que afectan a inmigrantes y familias de estatus migratorio mixto).
The Young Invincibles have been hosting an October Assister Webinar series focused on outreach for navigators. The last webinar on October 26 will teach innovative outreach strategies for engaging with communities that face additional barriers to getting covered.
The Medicaid unwinding has reached six months of conducting redeterminations and the Kaiser Family Foundation has been tracking all reporting state outcomes for over 28 million renewals. As of March, 94 million people are enrolled in Medicaid/CHIP. Of that, 9% have been disenrolled, 17% have had their coverage renewed, 4% are still pending, and 70% remain. The variation in disenrollments across each state show the different state procedures and timelines.
Open enrollment starts on November 1! Between November 1 and January 15, enrollees can enroll in a Marketplace health insurance plan. For assisters aiding people with disabilities with enrollment decisions, review NDNRC’s disability guide and previous factsheets. Those who have been disenrolled from Medicaid during the unwinding are eligible for financial assistance for a Marketplace plan and can review FAQs on switching from Medicaid to private health insurance. To reduce gaps in coverage, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services created an unwinding special enrollment period, in which consumers may apply for Marketplace coverage at any time until July 31, 2024.
The CHIRblog summarized administrative flexibilities and policies that would affect consumers enrolling Marketplace plans during the open enrollment period starting on November 1. Topics include the Medicaid unwinding, enhanced financial assistance, proposed coverage expansion for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, changes in automatic re-enrollment, a decrease in coverage requirement for COVID-19 related services, and price comparison tools.
CMS is hosting a 2024 Marketplace Open Enrollment webinar on October 26, December 13, January 10, and January 31. Champions for coverage, navigators, certified application assisters, and related stakeholders should attend for information, resources, and updated materials to help navigate consumers during open enrollment. Each webinar will focus on current and new Marketplace resources, theme weeks of action, data snapshots, and other Marketplace updates.
Archives of our weekly updates are available on the NDNRC website.